Across the Stars and Ashes (Guardians of the Night Book 3) Read online

  “Aaagghh!” she clutched at her leg, realizing the source. Blood seeped from a wound in her thigh. The Warrior that’d shot at her moments before hit the target he intended. She was grateful it wasn’t a silver bullet, since the last thing she needed was more silver poisoning to her system during her growing hunger.

  “Let’s try this again.” She heard Lucas drawl out in annoyance and slowly began to look around. Draven and Thomas stood some feet away to her right, with guards behind them. And for the first time since trying to escape, she saw Seth on her left. He was unconscious on the floor and looked to be pretty beat up. Bruises lined his jaw. Dark red seeped onto his plain white shirt near his stomach.

  When she started to move toward him, a guard somewhere behind her kicked her leg causing her to cry out in pain, landing back onto the blue carpet with a heavy sigh.

  “He’s fine. For now.” Lucas approached her. She could hear his anger in the grating of his voice. Then she smelled him and her head began to pound.

  Feed feed feed feed. Now.

  The dark poison of the Rogue blood was beginning to surge through her veins. Zarah could feel the fibers of the carpet through the palms of her hands as she knelt, hunched over, still in pain. When the Fallen Master stepped up, she sat back on her haunches so her face could meet his, hissing like a feral cat. Guards were on each side in an instant, holding her back from lunging forward as she continued to snarl and growl—losing all control.

  “That’s what I’ve been waiting to see!” The crazy Fallen clapped his hands joyously and barked a laugh. “You can turn back with the right formula and process.”

  Zarah let out a string of obscenities before reaching toward him again in fury. He stepped back nonchalantly and rolled his eyes.

  “I forgot how completely unpolished and chaotic you lot are.”

  Zarah curled her lip up in disgust as a response to his remark.

  “Who the hell are you?” Draven suddenly snapped. She’d almost forgotten he was there because of their silence. When she turned her attention to him, he was staring at Lucas with a rage she’d never seen burn in his narrowed eyes.

  “Do I really need to answer that question, Draven? I think you already know.”

  “So… You’re my asshole, dead-beat dad.”

  Zarah closed her eyes to fight the monster continuing to gnaw at her insides. If she did die here, at least she could peacefully knowing that Draven knew the truth about his past… about her feelings toward him… and what had really happened to her mother.

  Chapter eighteen

  Draven

  Draven stared at the man in the room he’d learned was his missing Fallen father. He hadn’t had much time since seeing the video to talk to Seth. Not that he really cared to talk to him either. But he could remember bits of flashbacks coming at him throughout the last few days. Memories of a time that he’d been left to lose after Nathanial turned him. Pieces were beginning to fall into place.

  “I must say, I expected this.” Lucas continued, taking a seat at the desk.

  “Expected what?” he heard Thomas snap. When he surveyed the room, he saw the others being guarded just as heavily—Zarah with four guards on her alone. His heart ached to go to her. She was barely conscious, fighting the Rogue blood-thirst and silver poisoning.

  “For this to be some kind of family reunion. I just didn’t know how long it would take for all of you to show up. Smart, I must say, sneaking through the grounds after Zarah has already been here for a few weeks. I was beginning to get comfortable.” Lucas went on, gloating.

  “Obviously not comfortable enough, or there’d already be a bullet in your head.” Draven retorted.

  “Ah, yes, well that’s unfortunate for you. Not me.”

  He met his gaze and shrugged. Maybe if he pretended as if this was not the worst situation they could be in, one of them could catch him off guard. Seth did at least have the time to mention that once Lucas is killed, the guards or warriors would scatter. They’re only following orders.

  “You can’t pretend you don’t care, Draven. I read emotions quite easily.”

  “And you will die before this is over.”

  “We’ll see.” Lucas smirked. “You have surprised me after all. I personally Unclaimed you as a toddler. Weak. Always wanting to be coddled. Now look at you. Maybe mixing our species isn’t as bad as I’d thought.”

  “Then I guess this is pointless. You can just end it here and let us go.” Draven quipped, shrugging.

  Lucas let out a sarcastic laugh. “I said ‘maybe.’ I didn’t say it was a good idea. I still hold to my beliefs, boy. Besides, what I’m doing isn’t entirely what that’s about.”

  “Oh yeah? It sure seems that way. Sidenote, you’re a dumbass.”

  “The Fallen long ago ruled this world. I’m taking back what was once ours. It’s that simple. I like tradition and order.”

  Draven could see out of the corner of his eye that Seth was regaining consciousness, and from outside the guarded door there were loud bangs and pounding from the other Fallen and Guardians that had tagged along on the trip. Somehow they’d all been separated during the earlier fighting, now caught up they’d seen the locked doors and sensed the trouble. He met Lucas’ steady, cold gaze.

  “More friends? Too bad you’re here and they’re there, right?”

  Draven remained silent. Too bad for Lucas his friends had already taken care of all the work outside. They just needed to find a way into the barred doors of the office. It wouldn’t take long, he was sure, and then the fight would really start.

  He was already visualizing how he and Zarah would kill this Fallen psycho together as soon as the opportunity presented itself. The image made him smile wide, causing Lucas to frown in confusion at the unexpected response.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Zarah

  Zarah had lost all sense of time and purpose. Guards were physically restraining her back now, one starting to struggle while trying to latch silver cuffs on her wrists. She had some sight of the people around her, but her mind wouldn’t register the need or desire to care as to the importance of who was who. All she wanted was the blood and the pounding in her head to stop.

  The Guards didn’t succeed in cuffing her. Something happened that broke their attention away and suddenly chaos erupted through the room again.

  There were shouts, only to sound mostly muffled to Zarah, and gunfire. Somehow the door had been broken through and the rest of her brother’s team, along with Seth’s, came barreling into the office. Lucas was yelling something. She spent most of her energy trying to focus.

  “Zarah, come on, you need to get out of here.”

  When she looked up, she saw Seth. Not exactly who she expected. He must have been able to tell by the expression on her face, the brief glance around the wild room, before meeting his eyes again. She caught the slight hurt.

  “He’ll catch up. But you need to get out.” He finally mumbled. He winced and held at a wound in his stomach.

  “And you need to back off.” She hissed. His smell lingered, strong and decadent. She fought from lunging.

  After watching her for a moment in silence, he moved closer.

  “Do it. You need it to cure.”

  “No! I’ll tell you the same thing I told Ethan in that room, no. I’ll kill you!” This time she could feel the tears forming.

  “I won’t let you. But if you did, you did. Do it!” He growled, and she watched his honey-gold eyes glow in determination as he suddenly landed his lips on hers.

  She was gone. In her place the Rogue virus rose to its ugly surface as his kiss deepened and the smell of blood intensified. Before she could fight the horrifying instincts, she reached forward and gripped his shoulders, pulling him back in a vice grip and sunk her extended fangs into the base of his neck. In the distance, she heard Draven screaming her name, probably still fighting some of the guards, and Lucas laughing maniacally as she began to slowly kill one of his own sons.

  Cha
pter Twenty

  Draven

  The last time Draven had seen Zarah so lost to her mind, she was on the floor of a human’s home surrounded by their dead bodies. That was the night he and Nathanial had found her, and she was on the brink of curing because of her Fallen bloodline.

  Now she was draining his brother. And during his fight with the Warriors, he was screaming her name, trying to get her senses back to reality. He ignored Lucas laughing from somewhere nearby and remained focus.

  “Zarah!”

  Draven began slashing his way through the crowd toward her and Seth. He felt a few hard blows in return but kept advancing forward with determination.

  When he approached, he gripped her shoulder and started to pull her away. “Zarah, you have to stop. You’re going to kill him!”

  But she’d changed.

  In a blur, she released Seth. He slumped forward in a tired heap on her lap. Then she whirled on Draven with an angry, defiant roar. Seth’s blood dripping from her swollen lips.

  He leapt back, mostly in fear, partly from his Guardian training’s instincts. Her once distinct irises had gone red. They started shedding frightened tears, asking silently for help as she stopped growling and gazed up at him and clutched at the bleeding Fallen laying on her. She looked like the Zarah he remembered seeing that night years ago.

  “I know you’re still in there.” He whispered down to her. “You have to fight. I need you to fight."

  He watched her intently, waiting for her to make her move, hoping she could hear him and make sense of his words. He listened around them at Thomas and the others bringing the Warriors and the human hunters down slowly one by one. Lucas was still somewhere in the room barking out orders, but he didn’t bother to look up and around for him. His focus was only on the woman before him, the one he’d always known to be his other half. Even now with the Bond severed. They could fix that later also.

  When he knelt and reached toward her, she didn’t flinch. She didn’t even try to move away when he brushed away tears on her cheek and leaned his forehead against hers. He saw more tears fall in their place.

  “Zarah.” He breathed her name. “I didn’t get a chance to say it before. I love you, too.” His hands curled into her hair. “But you can’t let this beat you. You have to fight. I know you can win.”

  She still wouldn’t respond to him or make a move to touch him. Though something flickered across her face that told him she knew what he was saying. After a minute of silence, fierce determination crossed her features and before he could stop her, she was rising from the floor. Seth was alive. He was barely conscious, but healing fast, and he would live. That was important. His blood would cure the virus in Zarah also, though Draven didn’t know how long that would take.

  Without warning, she was yanking the sword from Seth’s belt. A Warrior’s blade—despite that Seth and his group were all outcasts now, they still used them for hunting and battle, and now Zarah was stealing his.

  “Wait—What are you doing?” Draven started in confusion. She only glanced in his direction once before turning with the sword raised in fury and began running into the chaos toward Lucas.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Zarah

  She’d tasted Seth’s blood. Every flavor bounced over her tongue and down her throat. And she wasn’t stopping, wasn’t allowing herself or thinking of it or caring to, until Draven rushed her. She’d nearly lunged at him also just for interfering, but it was the look on his face that finally made some of her senses return.

  Still. She’d nearly killed Seth. That was weighing on her mind as she picked up his sword and turned away from Draven’s questioning glare. There was something she had to hurry and go do while she had the mindset. Then if it was needed, Draven would be the one to end her life before Thomas could make his way over to her. Thinking of her brother, it caused her to take a brief glance while she fought through the crowd to see him beside his mate, Alyssa, in a group battle against some human hunters that’d been allies with Lucas and his Fallen. She hoped that their group wouldn’t kill the humans to show them mercy, but if it was necessary so be it.

  Zarah could feel a fever building with each step she took. The blade she carried was heavy in the grip of her left hand and she paid no attention to nothing or no one around her. She only had her eyes on one person at the back of the room, and it didn’t take him long to see her coming through the slowly dwindling group of fighters. Her group had taken down all but a few now, and the attention was starting to focus on her furious walk toward Lucas with Seth’s raised sword. She could feel the stares. She could feel the heat of her body, getting more intense with each passing second… Her hands shook and anger kept her tears flowing.

  “What is this?” Lucas suddenly barked with a frown. “You’re Rogue. You shouldn’t have access to any of your Fallen traits!” He was screaming and reaching for his own sword as she approached wordlessly. She felt the corners of her mouth go up in a smile before looking down to briefly check her arms and hands to see what he meant. Sure enough, it was there—the power she’d come to learn and appreciate through the months, glowing white-hot now.

  He was too busy being confused to pay attention. She swung the sword at him, causing him to stumble back in surprise. His own barely came up to meet hers with a loud crack of metal against metal. When she shoved against with a growl, throwing him back against the wall, he let out a howl of pain. The light emitting from her had spread and grew brighter. She threw a punch with her right fist, connecting with his jaw, leaving immediate burns. Blood began to pour from his mouth.

  Zarah wasn’t going to stall this with unnecessary talk. She was going to end it as soon as she could, and while she was a-light with power, he could barely touch her without screaming out in pain. It made for an interesting game.

  When she dug the tip of the sword into his stomach, the smell of his blood enchanted her. She fought the urge to sink her fangs into his neck though. She’d already almost killed Seth, and though it would have been a sweet revenge to drink Lucas dry, she didn’t want any part of him in her system. Instead, she dug the sword deeper, and held him by his throat with her other hand while he struggled for the last of his life.

  After a few minutes of struggle, she caught a glimpse of herself in a nearby mirror. Red eyes with blood-stained cheeks, more blood still around the corners of her lips, and glowing-hot skin covered in a sheen of sweat… Zarah could see the monster staring back at her. With a snort of disgust, she turned back to Lucas and ripped the sword up through his stomach and into his heart. At the same time she had focused the power in her hands, burning him from the inside out. His eyes burst with light. He screamed. His wings were forced from his back, but burned away from his skin and fell to the floor. She let go as quickly as it’d started. Lucas was dead, dropping with Seth’s weapon still lodged in him.

  Part Two

  Chapter twenty two

  Zarah didn’t know how much time had passed when she came to again. She didn’t even remember passing out, but when she awoke she found herself back in her old bed at The Compound. She sat straight up as if gasping for air in lungs that she knew didn’t need air.

  Hands were on her in an instant. She jumped.

  “Just me.” Draven assured, sitting next to her on the bed and she relaxed until she remembered everything. She started to push him away.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay. I promise. You’re okay, Zarah! Look!” He rushed to grab a nearby compact mirror.

  “I’m not…” Zarah couldn’t finish the sentence. She took a quick glance in the mirror. Her eyes weren’t red anymore. She was still bruised to hell, but someone had cleaned her up since returning at least. She looked somewhat healthier at least.

  “No. Seth’s blood cured you.”

  At the mention of Seth, her head jerked back up from the mirror. “I have to go see him. Right now.”

  “He’s not doing too well at the moment. You should wait.” He was pushing her back as she started
out of the bed.

  “What do you mean? I need to speak to him, Draven. I have to go see him.”

  “And you almost drained him while you were Rogue. Zeke came back with us, helped him recover by donating a lot of his blood so he could start bouncing back. But he’s been pretty out of it the past few days also. I’ve been going back and forth between both of your rooms to check in.”

  “How long was I out?”

  “Four days.”

  Zarah sank back into the pillows and thought back to those moments. “I tried so hard to fight myself. I’ll never forgive that slip and what I did to him.” She was tearing up. He reached over and began running his fingers through her hair.

  “It wasn’t your fault. He knows that.” There was an awkward pause of silence before she met his questioning stare again.

  “Ethan?” She asked. There wasn’t much needed to be said for him to know what she was trying to get information on. He gave a swift nod of reassurance.

  “Ethan is okay, too. He’s here. And we found Cherise’s nephew locked in one of the rooms. A bit roughed up, but nothing serious.”

  She let a relieved smile pass through the tears and began to toss the covers back again. Draven stood, looking confused.

  “What are you doing? You need your rest.”

  “I’ve been laying here for four days. I think I’ve rested well enough for now. I said I need to see Seth. I also need to see Thomas. You can come with me if you want or stay here and continue looking like that.” He did look pretty dumbfounded by her, slack-jawed and shocked, as she began moving slowly through the room.

  “Right.” He said quickly and began helping her after shaking his head. She smiled her thanks when he didn’t try to stop her. And she was thankful he was never one to push her back or control her into staying put. He knew that she knew what was best for her, and she was making it very obvious this was important.